Lothian Buses: Dennis Dart SLF / Plaxton Pointer

English: Plaxton Pointer bodied Dennis Dart SLF buses operated by Lothian Buses. These were the first low-floor single-decker/midibus type bought by the company, and the only such type until the switch to the Volvo B7RLE / Wrightbus Eclipse Urban 1 combination. A total of 90 buses were bought between November 1999 and October 2003, in batches of 25, 15, 35 and 15 respectively. A 91st bus arrived in December 2003 to replace one of the third batch destroyed by fire. Fleet numbering ran from 151 to 192 for batches 1 & 2 (without using No.s 180 & 190), although re-numbering occurred later to vacate numbers for the Volvos. The first two batches carried prefix-letter registrations, V plates then Y plates respectively, although due to a late entry into service, the very last bus of batch 2 carried the new style of 2 digit year-identifier (51 reg.). Batches 3 & 4 were numbered from 51 to 100, carrying 52 and 53 reg plates respectively (re-using 75 for the fire replacement bus, with a new 53 plate reg.) Another bus was destroyed by fire in 2012, by which time sales of other buses had already commenced.

fleetnumbers & registrations

batch 1 * No. 151 (451) (V151 EFS) sold * No. 152 (452) (V152 EFS) sold * No. 153 (453) (V153 EFS) sold * No. 154 (454) (V154 EFS) sold * No. 155 (455) (V155 EFS) sold * No. 156 (456) (V156 EFS) sold * No. 157 (457) (V157 EFS) sold * No. 158 (458) (V158 EFS) sold * No. 159 (459) (V159 EFS) sold * No. 160 (460) (V160 EFS) sold * No. 161 (461) (V161 EFS) sold * No. 162 (462) (V162 EFS) sold * No. 163 (463) (V163 EFS) sold * No. 164 (464) (V164 EFS) sold * No. 165 (465) (V165 EFS) * No. 166 (466) (V166 EFS) sold * No. 167 (467) (V167 EFS) sold * No. 168 (468) (V168 EFS) sold * No. 169 (469) (V169 EFS) * No. 170 (470) (V170 EFS) sold * No. 171 (471) (V171 EFS) sold * No. 172 (472) (V172 EFS) sold * No. 173 (473) (V173 EFS) sold * No. 174 (474) (V174 EFS) * No. 175 (475) (V175 EFS) sold batch 2 * No. 176 (50) (Y176 CFS) sold * No. 177 (51) (Y177 CFS) sold * No. 178 (48) (Y178 CFS) sold * No. 179 (52) (Y179 CFS) sold * No. 181 (41) (Y181 CFS) sold * No. 182 (42) (Y182 CFS) sold * No. 183 (43) (Y183 CFS) sold * No. 184 (44) (Y184 CFS) sold * No. 185 (45) (Y185 CFS) sold * No. 186 (46) (Y186 CFS) sold * No. 187 (47) (Y187 CFS) sold * No. 188 (53) (Y188 CFS) sold * No. 189 (49) (Y189 CFS) sold * No. 191 (Y191 CFS) sold * No. 192 (SN51 FZB) sold batch 3 * No. 51 (SK52 OHU) * No. 52 (SK52 OHV) * No. 53 (SK52 OHW) * No. 54 (SK52 OHX) * No. 55 (SK52 OHY) * No. 56 (SK52 OHZ) * No. 57 (SK52 OJA) * No. 58 (SK52 OJB) * No. 59 (SK52 OJC) * No. 60 (SK52 OJD) * No. 61 (SK52 OJE) * No. 62 (SK52 OJF) * No. 63 (SK52 OJG) * No. 64 (SK52 OJH) * No. 65 (SK52 OJJ) * No. 66 (SK52 OJL) sold * No. 67 (SK52 OJM) sold * No. 68 (SK52 OJN) sold * No. 69 (SK52 OJO) fire * No. 70 (SK52 OJP) sold * No. 71 (SK52 OJR) sold * No. 72 (SK52 OJS) sold * No. 73 (SK52 OJT) sold * No. 74 (SK52 OJU) sold * No. 75 (SK52 OJV) fire * No. 76 (SK52 OJW) sold * No. 77 (SK52 OJX) sold * No. 78 (SK52 OJY) sold * No. 79 (SK52 OJZ) sold * No. 80 (SK52 OKA) sold * No. 81 (SK52 OKB) * No. 82 (SK52 OKC) sold * No. 83 (SK52 OKD) * No. 84 (SK52 OKE) * No. 85 (SK52 OKF) batch 4 * No. 86 (SN53 AUW) * No. 87 (SN53 AUX) * No. 88 (SN53 AUY) * No. 89 (SN53 AVC) * No. 90 (SN53 AVD) sold * No. 91 (SN53 AVE) * No. 92 (SN53 AVF) * No. 93 (SN53 AVG) * No. 94 (SN53 AVK) * No. 95 (SN53 AVL) * No. 96 (SN53 AVM) * No. 97 (SN53 AVO) sold * No. 98 (SN53 AVP) * No. 99 (SN53 AVR) * No. 100 (SN53 AVT) replacement bus for original No. 75 * No. 75 (SN53 JNO)

Harlequin livery

As low-floor buses, the Darts wore the new Harlequin livery. The first two batches wore the original version, the later two the simplified. A couple of the original versions also ultimately received the simplified version.

The majority of the buses were delivered with a form of simple route branding - either for routes 22/N22 or the 30/N30, as seen on the later Volvos, but this was eventually removed, leaving plain Harlequin. A small number received small night bus network branding, as also seen on the later Volvos. Only ten of the buses arrived new in Harlequin livery without any branding.

Original version (plain)

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Simplified version (plain)

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  batch 3 (68)
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  batch 3 (84)
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  batch 4 (93)
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  replacement No. 75

With branding

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  30/N30 on batch 4 (No. 92)
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  30/N30

Park & Ride version

To promote the opening of new sites on the Edinburgh Park & Ride network, some buses of batch 1 were repainted in a special green version of (simplified) Harlequin for the route, wearing this until their sale.

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  At Sheriffhall Park and Ride
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  At Sheriffhall Park and Ride
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  At Sheriffhall Park and Ride (No. 168)

Classic livery

Most of the buses lasted long enough in the fleet to receive Classic livery - only batch 1 didn't receive it at all.

Lothianbuses.com fleetname

Carried by most of batch 2, 3 & 4, plus replacement 75.

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  batch 3 (61)
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  batch 3 (70)
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  batch 4 (99)

TfE fleetname

Carried by most of batch 3 & 4, plus replacement 75.

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  batch 3 (68)

Get There Greener

To denote the fact they had exhaust reduction technology fitted, when repainted to Classic, some buses also received Get There Greener / route 36 branding, with 'ecoLothianbuses.com' as a fleetname (later running with none following the TfE style rebrand). No. 53 (ex-188) of batch 2 was the prototype, followed by 54-59 of batch 3.

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• 
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  54
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  58
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  58